Other Worldly Magic
by BellatrixHBC
Summary: Hermione Granger and River Song. Both skilled and intelligent women in their own rights. But when their worlds come together, how will they cope knowing nothing about the other's idea of 'magic?


Hermione turned the final page of her book, her eyes fluttering involuntarily over the mass of words as she neared the bottom of the page. After hours of studying in the library she had finally completed the fourteen books that she had written on a small piece of parchment. Closing the book and stroking out it's name on the parchment, she sighed to herself. This is what she called a 'light read'. It definitely wasn't enough, and Hermione was never satisfied unless she had read at least thirty books by the time it got dark. The sun was already low in the sky, concealed by the mountains that bordered the school grounds. She looked around, surprised at what she saw. When she had entered the library this morning it had been full, but now there wasn't a soul in sight. Even Madam Pince had scurried off to bed when she hadn't noticed. Hermione smiled to herself, trying to contain a childish giggle. She loved getting lost in a good book, but she still found it amusing when the entire world stopped when she buried her head between the pages and she could lose track of time so easily. Anything could have happened between the opening of the first book, "A Guide to Everyday Muggle Life", and the closing of the last, "Protective Charms and Defensive Spells." In fact, something did happen that Hermione had not yet noticed. She hadn't realised that she wasn't alone in the library.

Hermione was in her sixth year at Hogwarts, and quite possibly the hardest year she had experienced. She was still top of all of her classes; well, all except Potions (Harry had inadvertently excelled this year, much to her own surprise), she was well prepared for the end of term examinations, and she was even getting some flattering attention from a boy in her own house, Cormac McLaggen. But none of this really mattered to her anymore. Not after Ron ended up with her. Lavender Brown. Hermione hated even the thought of her name, never mind speaking of her. She was so close to telling Ron how she really felt about him, how after all these years and all they've been through together, she loved him, but Lavender ruined everything. Seeing them both together, hugging, cuddling, snogging, it made her sick to her stomach. All she wanted was for Ron to be happy, but not with her. Hermione sighed again and lifted the stack of books in her arms, walking towards the tall shelves. She turned to look at the clock; it was almost 9pm. Hermione must have missed the final calling to leave the library at it's closing time, 8pm. She shook her head and walked through the narrow isles, lifting one book at a time and allowing it to float to it's place on the shelf. When all the books were returned, she began walking back to where she had been sitting to collect her parchment containing all of the notes she had written when she step on something. She looked down to her feet and noticed the Daily Prophet lying on the ground. She hadn't read today's issue, so she picked it up and carried it back to the table she had been at, sat down and opened the paper. "SIGHTINGS OF BLUE BOX DISMISSED AS SUSPICIOUS" was printed on the inside page in bold, black lettering. She looked at the picture which wasn't very clear, but she could tell it was London. In the distance, behind Big Ben, a small blue box appeared momentarily and then vanished. Hermione looked closer, trying to take in every detaile where possible. "Police Public Call Box" she could read from the top of the box. She began to read the article. "..however, the Ministry claims these sighting were none other than a simple publicity stunt. Much like the old-fashioned telephone boxes in London, this Police Box is none other than a gateway to the Ministry itself." Hermione closed the paper, folded it up and placed it on the table.

She rose from her seat, grabbing her torn pieces of parchment from the table and throwing them into her small bag, then placed it over her shoulder. She headed towards the door before she heard something at the other end of the library. She could have sworn it was somebody's voice, cursing under the breath and the sound of a book dropping. She tiled her head slightly, walking towards the origin of the sound. "Hello? Is anybody there?" It couldn't possibly have been a student, the library had been empty and at 9pm the students were ushered back to their common rooms. Maybe it was Filch, the caretaker, tidying up the books the other students had failed to return properly. Hermione heard another book fall, and this time the voice got louder. "These bloody books.." It was the voice of a woman, a very irritated woman, and definitely not the voice of somebody she knew. It wasn't a Professor, she knew that for sure, but the voice sounded too mature to be a student. She called out again, "Hello? Is somebody there?" She took her bag from her shoulder and placed it onto a nearby desk and continued walking in the direction of the voice. She looked behind her, the door was still closed, nobody had come into the library since it closed meaning this person must have been in here all along. But how could somebody even get into the school if they weren't a student or a Professor. When Hermione turned back to face the direction in which the voice was coming from she was started to see someone standing before her.

"Oh.. hello, sweetie," the woman said, in quite a friendly tone. She was tall, had unbelievably wild, curly hair, and was wearing grey trousers, a creme coloured jumper, a white coat, a very thick brown belt and what appeared to be a holster containing what looked like some kind of gun and something else Hermione was unable to recognise. "Um.. who are you?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrow, puzzled. "You're not from round here, are you?" The woman smiled and shook her head. "Spoilers." Her eyebrows shot up as she laughed. "I'm just messing with you, sweetie. I'm Professor River Song." Hermione had stopped walked and was now staring at the woman, trying to take all of this in. "I'm sorry but, a Professor? I don't believe I've seen you in any classes before.." The woman laughed again, this time slightly louder. "Oh no, sorry! I'm a Professor of Archaeology, and quite frankly I don't know where I am. The TARDIS must be temperamental again.. I need to get back to the Doctor so if you don't mind, I must be on my way." Hermione looked bedazzled. She didn't quite understand this woman at all. "Excuse me, I'm sorry but what exactly is a.. TARDIS? And what Doctor? Where are you from?" But before she could get a reply, the woman had begun walking away at a fast pace, heading towards the restricted section of the library.

Hermione couldn't help but run after her. She wanted to know who this person was and where she had come from. The woman took a sharp turn into one of the narrowest isles and as Hermione followed she stopped dead in her tracks. Stood before her was a giant, blue box. The same blue box from the Daily Prophet. It was the bluest blue she had ever seen, made completely of wood and had something quite magical about it. Not magic as she knew it, but something else, some other worldly magic. "This is the TARDIS" the woman said quite proudly. Hermione still didn't understand. The fact that someone with her knowledge was incapable of being able to understand this amazed her. "I'm sorry, please explain." Hermione said, unable to take her eyes off the blue box. River turned to face Hermione, smiling kindly. "Oh alright, but I warn you, it's a lot to take in." As the stranger explained everything Hermione's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. The time travel part she understood, she still possessed the time turner Dumbledore had given to her in her third year, but the travelling in space, the rewriting history, the Time Lord race, she couldn't quite wrap her head around it. "I.. I don't get it.. it's just a box, how can you do all of that with a box?" River smiled in anticipation, as if she couldn't wait to see Hermione's next reaction. "Why don't you come inside?" she said, softly, opening the doors of the box. Hermione was almost blinded by a bright orange glow coming from inside, but as her eyes became more focused, she could see inside the box. Nothing could have prepared her for what stood before her.


End file.
